About a Photograph: Nick Ut’s Iconic Vietnam War Image

Our latest "About A Photograph" film features photojournalist Nick Ut’s story behind his iconic Vietnam War image of a terrified young girl, Phan Thi Kim Phuc, escaping a South Vietnamese napalm bomb attack.

In the video, Ut recounts how he had to make an ethical choice between capturing images as a photojournalist and helping this severely burned girl. In the end he did both. He captured one of the most impactful war images in history and was able to take the burn victim forty minutes to Cu Chi hospital.

Warning: The video (seen here) shows the iconic Vietnam War image of a naked girl running from the remnants of a napalm attack. While the largely ubiquitous image is not something we'd usually share on the site, I decided the laregly unkown backstory of Nick Ut saving the young girl's life was certainly worth sharing. [Sean]